AIRPORT — As international aviation publications publish ICAO’s projected opening dates of major airports around the world, the question remains whether this is a wise and justified decision. According to a report in the Antilliaans Dagblad on Thursday, June 3, 2020, the new corona positive case in Curacao proves that there are still hot spots around the world, and especially close at home in our region. Such as the Dominican Republic, Colombia, and the United States. In an article published in The Wall Street Journal, it is reported that scientists and researchers are finding evidence in their analyses of this…
Author: The Publisher
By Hilbert Haar It cannot surprise anyone that the government’s cost-cutting measures in exchange for receiving liquidity support from the Netherlands have become the center of an epic controversy, especially at the government-owned companies. TelEm comes to mind in this respect with its proposal to cut salaries across the board by 12.5 percent in combination with some other measures. The message from the top: do or die. The telecom union (SMCU) objects and points to the way utilities company GEBE has dealt with the government’s cost-cutting directive. I cannot help but thinking that GEBE is exercising some creative bookkeeping with…
PHILIPSBURG – In a letter to the Second Chamber dated May 19 State Secretary Raymond Knops wrote that one of the conditions for providing liquidity support to St. Maarten is a “decrease of 12,5 percent of the complete package of labor conditions.” In other words, it is not necessarily a cut into gross salaries. In a letter dated June 2 to the supervisory boards of five government-owned companies, Prime Minister Silveria Jacobs wrote that cuts in personnel costs are “not limited to the salaries of employees and can include reductions in vacation pay, bonuses, overtime and working hours.” In other…
PHILIPSBURG – The Economic Bureau Amsterdam produced at the request of the Dutch parliament a report about performance, opportunities and solutions for the Caribbean part of the Kingdom, entitled Small Islands, Large Challenges. It does not contain any new information but it is rather a compilation of platitudes and known facts. Examples? “The economy of St. Maarten remains vulnerable to natural disasters,” “The International Monetary Fund advises a debt quote of 40 percent” and “It is necessary that St. Maarten takes the necessary measures to keep healthcare and social security affordable.” The report speaks of a “silent crisis” in the…
PHILIPSBURG — Member of Parliament and Faction Leader for the United People’s Party the honorable Grisha Heyliger-Marten is calling on the Dutch Government to finalize the decolonization process that it started almost seventy years ago. Her position is consistent with the proclamation of the period 2010-2020 as the “Third International Decade for the Eradication of Colonialism” by the United Nations General Assembly on December 10th, 2010 via resolution 65/119. In a press release issued on Wednesday, June 2, 2020, MP Heyliger-Marten said the “Round Table Conference” between the Government of the Netherlands and the six Dutch Caribbean islands should be…
PHILIPSBURG – TelEm’s top managers paid themselves hefty bonuses in December of last year, union-leader Ludson Evers confirmed to StMaartenNews.com. While there was an agreement about a bonus of 50 percent of their salaries, the managers took 100 percent. The supervisory board forced them to pay back the difference. Evers said he believes that director Dupersoy earns more or less the amount of 27,000 guilders ($15,084) per month, financial director Helma Etnel 25,000 ($13,966) and technical director Eldert Luisa between 22 and 23,000 (around $12,570). “Etnel and Louisa paid back the difference immediately but Dupersoy claimed he had financial problems,”…
PHILIPSBURG – The St. Maarten Communication Union (SMCU) has labeled the proposal of salary cuts by the management of telecom provider TelEm an “indecent proposal.” Chairman Ludson Evers and Secretary Sherman Serastis wrote in a letter to TelEm-director Kendal Dupersoy that the union “does not agree with any cost cutting measure that would have a direct negative financial impact on the employees.” The union still wants to have a discussion with TelEm-management about cost-cutting measures but not before the company provides a truckload of information about the costs of, among others, consultants and legal advisers. The union wants detailed information…
PHILIPSBURG — The Central Bank of Curacao and Sint Maarten already took steps to counter the effects of the corona-virus crisis in March. At least one of these measures seems to be at odds with statements interim president José Jardim made mid-May in a letter to the chairman of parliament Rolando Brison. The Central Bank announcement dated March 20 (unless it is an error and it should read May 20) establishes that “commercial banks and credit institutions will be allowed to provide a 3 to 6 months payment moratorium on interest and principles of all outstanding loans without having to…
BELLEVUE — Tuesday, June 2nd, 2020, French authorities finally announced officially the closing of their border control posts and the lifting of checks at the Bellevue crosspoint and at the French Quarter frontier. According to Le Pelican, in a press release, the Prefecture of Saint-Martin confirmed the lifting of border control posts. “In connection with the Government of Sint-Marteen, the Prefecture of Saint-Barths and Saint-Martin issued an order limiting the movement between the two parts of the island in order to limit the spread of the virus. As the island’s health situation is stabilizing, free movement between Saint Martin and…
PHILIPSBURG – Telecom provider TelEm is in deep trouble, it appears from a letter it sent to the labor unions on Monday (June 1) about the decision to cut employee-salaries by 12.5 percent. The real situation at the company is at odds with the government’s assessment of the need for financial assistance to government-owned companies in its stimulus plan: “Airport, TelEm and GEBE have minimal impact and are not included at this time.” While the government made this statement in its plan on April 19, the information StMaartenNews.com received about TelEm financial position tells a different story. Here is our…
